eye declare

So I got an eye infection!

I thought my eyes were just really irritated and dry from being on the computer all day at work yesterday, and when I got off work my brother said, "You look really tired, like your right eye looks weird." I checked it out: it looked a little bloodshot, but that was all.

I lay down on my bed to relax, and my right eye started weeping - fluid coming out of it, and draining off down my cheek. One-eyed crying. I got up and said to my family, "I think there's something wrong with my eye!" Mum checked it out and said there was nothing in it. I decided that the best plan was to lie down and let it be. So I did.

After about two hours, and a short nap, I got up and looked at myself in the mirror. My left eye was fine, but my right eye was swollen, half shut - I looked like I'd been in a fight! I could still see just fine, but I looked way worse. The lopsidedness struck me as funny, but I was getting worried.

I called the hospital and talked to a nurse. She said that it sounded like I could wait the night, and if it was still swollen in the morning, to come in. But I thought about it and decided to go in that night. You never know with these kinds of things, and I'd rather have peace of mind and have it looked at soon.

Mum drove me in. The air was cooling down, and we both remarked on how cool it was for July. After I saw a nurse for triage, and then sat a little bit in the mostly-empty waiting room (and watched some of the Michael Jackson memorial on the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall), the doctor called me in. Mum came with me, and sat quietly off to one side. The doctor used a light to shine in my eye and had me look down, and over. She spoke economically, meting out her words. "Conjunctivitis," she said as she washed her hands.

She went and got me a little bottle of antibiotic drops. "Replace these in the next few days," she said. Meaning, go get some from the drug store, and bring them here when you can. She gave me two pieces of paper, both taken from her bright-yellow prescription pad: a prescription for the eyedrops, and a note for my employers. In remarkably legible handwriting it said: "This is to certify that the pt was seen and advised to rest for 24 - 48 hrs."

We drove home, and the full moon was low and golden over the Bras d'Or lake, just rising. Half the time I had my eyes closed; it was a strain to keep them open for long.

I slept well. And today, I've been resting, not working. Part of me is bored, and part of me is glad. The bored part was happy to do an hour of work this afternoon, and the glad part is happy that it's over now, and I can rest, close my eyes, think about eyesight and gratitude and health.

The infection doesn't hurt, but is more like a strain. And I'm taking my drops regularly, and drinking lots of fluid, and marveling at the wonderful system that is my body. Hopefully I can remember to actually REST, too - I have a propensity to try and "get stuff done" during the time when I'm meant to be at rest. But, I've had a lot of practice in the last few years with actually resting, with letting things just be, so I'll call on that now.

Have you ever had an issue with your eyes? Or temporarily lost or damaged one of your senses?